Dogs Can Sniff Out Illness

Don't know if you have heard this but studies are showing that dogs can "sniff out both early and late stage lung and breast cancers", according to an article on MSNBC.

The article reports that the The Pine Street Foundation, a non-profit cancer education and research organization, in San Anselmo, Calif., is even training dogs to recognize ovarian cancer.

Turns out the keen sense of smell that our beloved dogs have is able to differentiate smells that alerts them to illness before we might know ourselves. And many of those dogs do their best to let us know. The article cites examples of dogs intervening to save us.

Amazing what our companions can do for us!

Pets Boost Our Health

Anyone who has a pet can tell you that the joy they bring is immeasurable. For me personally I only have to look at the sweet face of my Airedale, Lucky, to immediately feel pure happiness.

Now science is weighing in with studies that identify the particular benefits we receive from our pets. James Serpell Ph.D, director of the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society ( great job) at the Univ. of Pennsylvania found that sharing your life with a pet can prolong survival after a heart attack, wards off depression and reduces the number of visits to the doctor. ( As reported in Prevention, Sept. 2006)

As for stress reduction a study of stockbrokers by the State Univ. of New York, found that when the stockbrokers faced stress with the aid a pet, their blood pressure was half as high as those who didn't have a pet.

I know that when I'm feeling stress out, I sit with my dog on our deck in the backyard and pet her. I can feel myself relax while feelings of frustation quickly turn to love I have for that dog.
I only hope I can give her half of what she has given to me and my children over the years.

As a friend of mine signs says in her email signature -- Try and be the person your pet thinks you are.